Cue Sport Group

Posts Tagged ‘pool’

1. Stop Stroke. This is a primary tool to start a good position to prepare for the succeeding shots you will take. This happens when you stop the cue ball at a certain point when it strikes the targeted ball. You make the ball stop at the precise point of impact.

2. Draw Stroke. You bring the cue ball back to your position. This happens with a few varieties that would render you different kinds of results.

3. Follow Stroke. This moves your cue ball to the impact point and convenient for your continuous run of patterns.

4. Spin Stroke. This is tool used to earn various cue ball track lines out of the rail after an impact with the targeted ball. The variety happens according to the number of spins utilized.

Photo via videojug.com

This billiard hall of famer is not just a pool player but also a player, an inventor, and a manufacturer. He was the very first who won the 1859 billiard stakes match. He was also the creator of many patented designs and cushions for various billiard tables. He was even hailed to be the very first billiard table designer to integrate diamonds on it. He was the author of the book Billiards Without A Master which is also known to be the first ever American book about billiards.

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We’ve seen, heard and admired most of the popular pool icons for their skill, affability, and charm. But one famous pool player seems to be misunderstood for his often-outspoken views and occasionally impulsive behaviors at tournaments, particularly his match with snooker star Steve Davis in 2003 World Pool Championships, where he engage in heated verbal arguments with fans and referee Michaela Tabb. Wandering who’s this controversial star pool player? The name is Earl Strickland, one of the best nine ball players of all time because of his numerous championship titles within his 25 years of pool playing career.

This cue artist from North Carolina started playing pool at the age of nine, and after intensive practice he entered his first pro tournament at 15. A winner of the prestigious Player of the Year Award, and his accolades include five wins at the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championships, and the WPA World Nine-ball Championships. Strickland is the only WPA World Nine-ball Champion ever to win the event in successive years.

He was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame in 2006 and in 2007; he was ranked #6 in the Pool & Billiard Magazine’s Top 20 Favorite Players.

(Photo via insidepool.com)

We often see pool and billiard players rub a green, blue and sometimes brown little cube on the tip of their cue after every shot. Well, that thing we see is called a Cue chalk and they are available in many colors. The chalk is placed on the tip of cue before and after the player makes a shot to provide a better grip which prevents miscuing.

The tip of a cue is made up of different flexible materials. A typical example is leather which becomes hard and compress after being used subsequently. Frequent usage of the cue stick makes the tip deteriorated and looses its good grip of the cue ball. This causes mishap to most of the pool players in giving a good hit on the ball. Pool Chalk or snooker chalk prevents the tip of cue from slipping off the cue ball. And it is therefore necessary to keep that chalk in every game. It helps to save that shot from losing the competition.

(Photo via drakeliesure.co.nz)

Francisco “Django” Bustamante is just one of the favorites among the professional pool players in the world. Known for his strong and powerful cue break and his signature behind-the-back shot, this Asian cue artist has won a number of titles like The German 9 Ball Championship, The Munich Masters and Japan’s 9-Ball Championship. He almost beat Earl Strickland in the 2002 World Pool Championships, if it wasn’t for his series of unlucky scratch that led him to the 2^nd place.

Bustamante, has started playing pool since the age of 10. And his early training and passion for pocket billiards led him to become one of cue sports greatest International stars.

Django holds the record for winning three Camel Pro Billiards titles in one season. His Columbus 10-Ball title also concluded the first ever Camel trifecta, with titles in each of the three games competed on the Camel Pro Billiards Series: 8-Ball, 9-Ball and 10-Ball. Together with the rest of the best Filipino pool players, Francisco “Django” Bustamante gives honor and glory to their country.

(Photo via insidepoolmag.com)

You may think that hitting a ball with the cue and shooting it in the pocket, is what all it takes to play the game of pool, but there’s a lot to it once you dominate the table. Making that shot in pool is a common urge, and predicting where the cue ball will stop is a challenge, however knowing how to strike the object ball with your cue ball is the secret to winning.

Many amateurs would think that every ball is all set to make the shot as long as its proximity to the pockets is high. Beginners eagerly take the attempt if they immediately see the line of fire to the hole, not knowing the complications it will make. The next thing you’ll know is you’re into a situation when you can’t find a good way to hit the cue ball into the object ball and make that shot even worst.

Professional pool players will find first their correct cue before they make the attempt, they take a few moments walking around the table, checking the cue ball in various angles in relation to object balls to be hit, and this is what they call a preshot routine.

Here are a few reminders that can help amateurs improve their pool playing routine. First, learn to control the cue ball, keep in mind where you want it to stop on the table after your shot, and then look for the aiming point as well as the collision point. Set your hit on how fast you want your cue ball to move then focus before making the strike.

Just think twice before you make the hit and don’t hesitate to make your own playing strategy.

Often we heard from our best professional pool players the name Willie Mosconi, who dominated pool for decades, and publicly on television, and known by many Americans as the greatest, but there was once a mentor and superior of Mosconi that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Known for his alias as “The Aristocrat”, Ralph Greenleaf was widely considered the greatest pool player ever, and handsome to boot. Ralph Greenleaf was pool’s brightest star from the turn of the century through the Depression. Greenleaf and Willie Mosconi stand as the two greatest pool shooters in history. Like Rachmaninoff at the piano, Greenleaf used his massive hands with their long, tapering fingers to perform his calling marvelously.

When Mosconi was a boy, he toured with Greenleaf, who taught him exquisite positioning with the cue ball and built in him the competitive edge to win.

Some old-timers state that Ralph’s frequent bouts with liquor crippled the potential of his brilliant career and have believed to bring this pool giant to an early death in 1950 at the age of 50.

Billiards and Pool are generally grouped as one and referred to as cue sports, although, technically, there are vast differences between the two games.

Cue Players consider “billiards” to be “carom’ games only, it is hitting two balls with one stroke of a pool cue, and three balls are used; white, yellow and red. Both the white and the yellow ball can act as the strikers. Billiards is basically pool without pockets; while on the other hand, Pool is hitting the ball into a pocket. It all depends on what style of the game you would like to play.

Pocket billiards takes on many forms, each differentiated largely by the number and size of balls used in play. Most traditional pool games are “8-ball pool” played with 16 balls: 15 colored and one white “cue ball.” And the “9-ball pool” using 9 colored balls and one white cue ball.

Today, Billiards and Pool can be exchanged and mean the same thing. When people refer to one, it is assumed the other is also being included.

Whether you are on a cheap budget or not, you can find pool balls according to your needs. Though the components differ from one purchased an expensive pool ball than the typical ones, these balls can still be used for a great game. Higher priced balls are made of phenolic resin that is harder, more resistant to temperature and has higher durability. The cheaper balls are usually made of polyester. In the market, the highest quality balls and built with aesthetic designs are Aramith Super Pro’s and Brunswick Centennials.

Aside from prices, the build quality of pool balls also varies. Some balls are just painted or inlaid with the colors and numbers while others are engraved with a solid core. The disadvantage with painted balls lies on the possibility that it might fall off after some games.

Last but not the least pool balls have differences in its characteristics like roundness, diameter and weight. What a player wants is that every ball in the bed would unite and match each other to come up with great results. It would make a shot predictable on its effects from one ball to another thus making a trick shot highly possible.